Called to Serve Others

 John 13:1-7

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?”

7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.”

When it comes to devotions or sermons based on service, this passage is nothing new to Christians.  The account of Jesus humbling Himself to wash the disciples feet has been an example of servitude for years.  To know that God Himself in flesh would humble Himself to serve man, is humbling in and of itself.  This should always be the example to us as Christians in the fact that we are never better than anyone else and we should always serve each other.  

I want us to look at the reason behind serving others though. My favorite verse in this whole recollection is verse 1.  Solely for the latter part of verse 1.  It states, “having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.  The purpose behind service is love.  Love is the definition of a Christian because God is love.  If God resides within us through the Holy Spirit then love should pour from the Christian.

As a Christian, we are told to be good stewards of the many gifts that God has given us.  God has given us gifts to serve others, not necessarily ourselves.   1 Peter 4:10 says,

10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

One way that we serve others that many know is to help the poor.  God has always looked out for the poor.  In the law of Moses there were special laws to look out for the poor, even when it came to the sacrifices.  As Christians, we should be confident in giving to the poor, strictly because of the love that resides within us, but we should also be confident that God will honor our service.  In Proverbs 19:17 it says,

He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord,

And He will pay back what he has given.

Sometimes it’s not only the poor, but also the weak that we have to consider.  While others may be poor financially, there also those amongst us that are poor in spirit that we need to lift up.  Acts 20:35 says,

35 I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

When it comes to serving others, we should never consider ourselves, but always consider others.  Just as Christ did when He was serving the disciples.  He knew His death was near, but instead of Himself pitying Himself or trying to indulge in His last few moments, He enjoyed Himself by loving and serving those around Him.  

Philippians 2:4 says,

4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Let us hold to this verse this day.  As we walk out in our service as Christians, let us continue to look out for the interests of others.